Punk rock never dies. It just has kids. That goes for the music and the people who make it. OK, maybe they’re not all running around procreating, but you can be sure that the best of them aren’t sitting on the front porch waiting for sweet death to afford them a bull session with Sid Vicious.
Movement and challenge are threads running through the denim of John Doe’s life. He left Baltimore for Los Angeles in 1976 to be a songwriter. And songs he wrote. Along with then-wife Exene Cervenka, he penned scores of them for X, the band that would put LA punk on the map. After seven X albums, a handful of solo and side projects, and numerous film roles, John moved to the outskirts of town, where he now lives with his wife and three daughters. He continues to act and make music, appearing in the TV show Roswell and holding down at least a couple of bands. He’s even doing a few late-summer live dates with X.As the very un-punk cliché goes, as much as things change, they have a way of staying the same. And that also goes for X’s first three albums -- Los Angeles, Wild Gift, and Under The Big Black Sun. With angst ablaze and energy undiminished, they still sound like a fresh response to the stale sounds of rock’s status quo. To be sure, they’ve only changed for the better, getting the expanded, remastered Rhino treatment. And as far as punk being alive and well, there’s really no question. But just for grins, let’s ask John Doe...
What’s been your involvement in these reissues?
I have been X’s secretary for these reissues. I have tried to remember and help research names and places that I forgot a month after they were finished. I organized all the bonus tracks and helped find a bunch of them. I was overseeing the mastering to make sure the sound was right. Exene, DJ, and I looked at hundreds of pictures to choose what should go in each package.
You’re playing live shows right now. How’s that been? Are you doing anything differently this time around?
We’re all wearing overalls and straw hats. We are playing the first four records -- not top to bottom, but by request. Punk rock as we know it. People want to hear what X does.
You’ve always been kind of a proponent of the primal, simplistic qualities of rock’n’roll. What are some of the more “progressive” things you like?
On solo projects I have a lot more variety -- loud and soft, using tape loops and drum beats. You have to stay current. It’s not like you hear something and appropriate it. You hear a bunch of things, and they work their way into whatever you make. I think that with X and those first three records, we were trying to do things differently within a certain style. Everybody at that point was rebelling -- against softness, against the chord structures that had come before. There was a lot more dissonance and aggression, because that was a part of society. Everyone was socially alienated, so they brought that into the music. At the same time it was returning to a more purist view of what rock’n’roll should be. There were no seven-minute jams. Just verse, chorus -- three and a half minutes at the most, and then go on to the next thing.
Why do you think LA punk took on a more rootsy sound?
That would be later. I think that LA punk was very much like New York in that it was very eclectic when it first started. Not until later was it hardcore punk rock. The first wave was The Screamers, Weirdos, Germs, X, The Alley Cats, Plugz, Go-Go’s. All that was very eclectic. It wasn’t until The Blasters and the whole rockabilly wave came in 1981 that it turned to a more roots style. I think Billy Zoom brought rockabilly guitar to punk rock. Robert Quine and Richard Lloyd were the main influences on guitar playing. They could really play rather than just do bar chords.
What did the New York and London punk scenes mean to you guys? What did you want to emulate and what did you want to do differently?
It was all just inspiration. Some of the lesser bands maybe copped styles. Everybody was there when bands from New York or England came here. I would say the Ramones, Blondie, The Damned, and DEVO had the biggest impact. DEVO just blew everybody away. They were so tight and so good... and doing dance steps.
It seems like it was hard to find a venue back then - troubles with the cops, etc. How did that affect you?
It was totally frustrating. You’d find a place that was willing to host a show like this, and then somebody would break something, and they would take it away. You keep moving. The LAPD really only came into the picture when the Elks lodge happened and when bands were playing at The Whisky, because they didn’t understand it and it was threatening. Whereas the hair bands, they did understand that. It’s like, ‘Oh, girls who look like Playboy bunnies are walking around in tube tops? I get this.
Did the fact that X had signed to a major label influence the way you guys recorded?
Not at all. It influenced some people’s opinion of us. That was true when we signed to Slash as well. Some people were very adamant about maintaining their own party: ‘It’s my party, and you have to make cassettes at home and sell them for a dollar.
How do you see the LA music scene today? Do you think it’s a frustrating environment for artists, given what’s going on in the music industry?
Yes, I think all music scenes are suffering because of major labels looking for a way to get a hit, and not to develop an artist. It’s pretty messed up, but there’s still a lot of good music, and I think the LA scene has a lot of good venues that allow people to discover things, and that’s what it’s about.
You moved out of LA, saying that you no longer found it inspiring. Of the many uninspiring things in LA, what did it for you?
A lot of things. Los Angeles changes every five to ten years. And once all the restaurants and little places you used to go to are gone, you make the choice of whether you want to find new ones and reacquaint yourself with the city or move.
You came here from Baltimore in 1976. What were you hoping to find?
I was planning to be a songwriter. I didn’t really have plans to be in a band or anything like that. It was all synchronicity -- everybody finding themselves in the same place at the right time, not having anything to do and being outsiders as far as the music industry was concerned.
You and Exene met at a poetry workshop. How has your poetry evolved over the years?
I really don’t write all that much any more. I just write, and then some things turn into songs and other things don’t. Exene has really developed her poetry and spoken-word career.
Any plans to publish a collection someday?
Yeah, maybe. I’m not really that interested. I’ve got a lot of stuff going on -- two or three bands, an acting career, and a family. That’s plenty.
How has fatherhood changed you?
In some great ways and some small ways. It’s a great source of emotional security and constant change. Once again, you have to keep moving. It’s an incredible, wonderful challenge. I think that’s one of the reasons why people in entertainment choose it. You’re confronted with a whole new set of similar but different circumstances every day, and you have to figure out how to make that work, whether you’re recording or touring or working on a movie set.
What are the movie projects you’re currently involved in?
I’ve been working on the TV show Roswell. I’ve done the first three episodes of the season. It’s on right after Buffy. It’s a good show.
On those early albums you dealt a lot with marriage and relationships. How would those songs be different if you wrote them today?
Not a whole lot different. That’s one of the constants of this world -- life and relationships are a struggle. We addressed those subjects more on the second and third records. The first record was much more about the life we led and the disposable culture and environment of Los Angeles. Songs like ‘Johny Hit And Run Paulene’ are not about marriage. ‘Sex And Dying In High Society,’ ‘Los Angeles’ -- none of those are about relationships. I think Exene’s and my relationship inspired us to make those songs. Even if Exene didn’t have a large part of writing a certain song, it was credited to both of us, because she was there and she made it happen.
What do you see as being the next underground music?
It’s gonna be rock bands. The three bands that I’ve heard that seem to be getting a lot of attention and are different from what’s been going on before are The Pattern (they’re playing with us), a band in New York called The Strokes, who are getting a lot of hype and are good, and a band called White Stripes in Chicago. They’re not rock bands like Cheap Trick, but they sort of remind me of punk rock.
Is punk dead?
Is rock dead? As Chuck Berry once said, ‘Rock’n’roll will never die.’ People have been asking ‘is punk dead?’ since 1981, and now punk rock is subculture. It’s a rite of passage for many people. So it’s kind of a dumb question.
Speaking of dumb questions, what’s the coolest thing about being in a rock’n’roll band?
The challenge. The worst thing, as you get older, is the lack of security.
You’ve always been involved in social causes. What are some of the issues that stir you today?
I did a commercial for CARE. I’m part of The Nature Conservancy. Nothing as a band. The last thing we supported was the stay of the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal. Also I’m involved in this organization to free the West Memphis Three, who are three teenagers convicted of murder in West Memphis, Arkansas. It was documented by a film called Paradise Lost. It was a total miscarriage of justice. They’re still in jail trying to get a new trial and get the real information out there.
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